If you decide to quit...

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend with family, friends and lots of delicious food and treats. Today I wanted to share with you a great article that I recently read from George Angus.

Here it is:

If you decide to quit....

Recently, I got a call from a General Manager I have known for over 20 years. He asked if I knew anything about a particular person. He knew that I worked with this person’s previous employers and asked what I knew about him. I told him as many generally positive things about the person as I could, (of course without violating any proprietary dealer or agency information).

How you leave is important.

But then he paused and asked “Yeah, but I heard that when he left his last F&I job he just quit and walked out in the middle of a busy day without giving any notice... Is that true?”

I said I didn’t know any details about that situation. But I could tell this was a serious red flag for that General Manager.

If nothing else, this had become part of this person's reputation in the industry. Someone was talking about it. And this cannot be good for anyone's career.

I have seen this issue come up repeatedly over the years and it’s clear that this blotch on an F&I manager’s record can have a negative impact on their future opportunities.

And it reinforces a point I continually try to emphasize to F&I professionals.

“There are only 10 people in the business…”

About a month ago, I sent a Saturday message titled “The Best Advice I Ever Got” that talked about building your reputation in the industry. In that message, I mentioned that a wise and respected mentor once told me “Just remember, there are only 10 people in this business and they all know each other”.If you missed that message, you can read it at http://p0.vresp.com/Afs88g

The point I want to make is that this is a smaller community than one might expect. You will live with good or bad decisions and actions for your entire career.

But wait, why do dealers deserve notice?

You might be thinking what I have heard from F&I managers in the past. “Why should I give them notice? I’ve never had a dealer give me notice when they let me go”. “That’s the way it is in this business”.

I understand why F&I professionals can feel that way. Dealers are notorious for letting people go without any notice, and many times without even a reasonable explanation why.

But even though they go low, we have to go high.

The fact is, the dealer probably isn't worried about you giving them a bad reference. But you can bet someone is going to ask that dealer about you.

And what that dealer says about you, not only to prospective employers, but to manufacturers’ representatives, product providers, and agents can heavily influence your career in the future.

Don’t lose the high ground.

There are sometimes good reasons for quitting a job. And in the future, you will want to have a plausible explanation of your reasons for leaving. In fact, if you left for ethical or legal reasons, it might even be a plus to the “right” prospective employer.

But no matter what reasons you had for leaving, and regardless of whatever else you did at that dealership, the fact that you walked out without giving notice is a red flag to any prospective employer.

Loyalty isn’t always rewarded, but character will be.

You are in a business where the only security you have is your ability, skill set, and reputation. Make sure that when you change jobs you do it for good reasons.

And then, do it with integrity and class.

Give at least two weeks’ notice. (Of course, don’t be surprised if they let you go that day).

Remember, it’s not about the dealers’ loyalty, character, or reputation.

It’s about yours.If you decide to quit....

Recently, I got a call from a General Manager I have known for over 20 years. He asked if I knew anything about a particular person. He knew that I worked with this person’s previous employers and asked what I knew about him. I told him as many generally positive things about the person as I could, (of course without violating any proprietary dealer or agency information).

How you leave is important.

But then he paused and asked “Yeah, but I heard that when he left his last F&I job he just quit and walked out in the middle of a busy day without giving any notice... Is that true?”

I said I didn’t know any details about that situation. But I could tell this was a serious red flag for that General Manager.

If nothing else, this had become part of this person's reputation in the industry. Someone was talking about it. And this cannot be good for anyone's career.

I have seen this issue come up repeatedly over the years and it’s clear that this blotch on an F&I manager’s record can have a negative impact on their future opportunities.

And it reinforces a point I continually try to emphasize to F&I professionals.

“There are only 10 people in the business…”

About a month ago, I sent a Saturday message titled “The Best Advice I Ever Got” that talked about building your reputation in the industry. In that message, I mentioned that a wise and respected mentor once told me “Just remember, there are only 10 people in this business and they all know each other”.If you missed that message, you can read it at http://p0.vresp.com/Afs88g

The point I want to make is that this is a smaller community than one might expect. You will live with good or bad decisions and actions for your entire career.

But wait, why do dealers deserve notice?

You might be thinking what I have heard from F&I managers in the past. “Why should I give them notice? I’ve never had a dealer give me notice when they let me go”. “That’s the way it is in this business”.

I understand why F&I professionals can feel that way. Dealers are notorious for letting people go without any notice, and many times without even a reasonable explanation why.

But even though they go low, we have to go high.

The fact is, the dealer probably isn't worried about you giving them a bad reference. But you can bet someone is going to ask that dealer about you.

And what that dealer says about you, not only to prospective employers, but to manufacturers’ representatives, product providers, and agents can heavily influence your career in the future.

Don’t lose the high ground.

There are sometimes good reasons for quitting a job. And in the future, you will want to have a plausible explanation of your reasons for leaving. In fact, if you left for ethical or legal reasons, it might even be a plus to the “right” prospective employer.

But no matter what reasons you had for leaving, and regardless of whatever else you did at that dealership, the fact that you walked out without giving notice is a red flag to any prospective employer.

Loyalty isn’t always rewarded, but character will be.

You are in a business where the only security you have is your ability, skill set, and reputation. Make sure that when you change jobs you do it for good reasons.

And then, do it with integrity and class.

Give at least two weeks’ notice. (Of course, don’t be surprised if they let you go that day).

Remember, it’s not about the dealers’ loyalty, character, or reputation.

It’s about yours.

As always if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Until next time,

Denise

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